Wednesday briefing: Plea for more free school meals in food policy overhaul

Top story: Percy Pig sweets in firing line

Hello, I’m Warren Murray, and should this day find you confined, here is as much of the wider world as we can bring you in a few minutes.

Up to 1.5 million more children in England should get free school meals to help tackle food poverty and unhealthy eating, according to a government-commissioned report billed as the first national food strategy since wartime rationing. It warns the climate crisis will be the source of the next food emergency; demands more than £2bn for farmers to improve the countryside; and condemns faux-healthy food labelling by big brands – including the idea of “healthy” Marks & Spencer Percy Pig sweets.

The author of the strategy, the Leon restaurant co-founder Henry Dimbleby, said Covid-19 had highlighted stark economic, health and nutritional inequalities which are set to be made worse by the pandemic’s economic fallout. Dimbleby is scathing of brands and supermarkets that mislabel sugar-filled products as healthy sweets. He warned “the wave of unemployment now rushing towards us is likely to create a sharp rise in food insecurity and outright hunger”. The report comes 48 hours after the launch of a government anti-obesity strategy that was criticised for putting responsibility on the shoulders of individuals instead of tackling structural inequalities. Dimbleby is to publish a second part of the food strategy in 2021, looking more closely at climate change issues and bioscience. The government has pledged to respond with a white paper six months after that.

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No ‘second wave’ – The Covid-19 pandemic is unfolding as “one big wave” that rises and falls, the WHO says, with no evidence that it follows seasonal variations common to influenza, or the coronaviruses that cause a harmless cold. The issue of a second wave has been a contentious one, much talked about by politicians including Boris Johnson, and the media, but the WHO’s Margaret Harris and other experts say the concept is unhelpful. Head to our live blog for coronavirus news as it unfolds. In our latest global wrap of coronavirus news: the hajj pilgrimage starts today but in much reduced form, with Saudi Arabia allowing only 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom to take part, instead of the usual 2.5 million.

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Police grapple with protests, hate crime – The number of protests in the UK involving confrontational tactics increased nearly twentyfold from seven in 2000 to 126 in 2019, signalling heightened social tensions, an independent policing review has said. Hate crime reported to the police has risen 144% in six years. The report comes after a wave of protests highlighting racial inequality, sparked by the death of George Floyd. The first phase of the Strategic Review of Policing concludes that policing in England and Wales needs radical reform to tackle 21st century problems. Traditional crimes such as burglary and car theft have fallen but there has been a huge rise in reported online crime and in sexual offences. The police have also had to deal with many more incidents involving people who are disadvantaged. Policing is struggling to keep pace with these changes, the report says. The review is half completed and is set to report in June next year on how police must respond to these challenges.

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Midweek catch-up

> The British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert was tearful, terrified and unwell inside Qarchak women’s prison in Iran, according to details that have emerged, and said in a recording: “I can’t eat anything. I feel so very hopeless … I am so depressed.”

> Ofgem, the energy regulator, has vowed to crack down on “unscrupulous” brokerages that have overcharged charities, community sports clubs and care homes for energy by an estimated £2bn through hidden commissions.

> Amber Heard has said saying she is “placing her faith in British justice” in Johnny Depp’s libel trial against the Sun as his lawyer branded her a “compulsive liar” and the real “abuser” in the relationship.

> Officials in the US have told people receiving unsolicited shipments of foreign seeds not to plant them. They are suspected to be a Chinese “brushing scam” where people receive unordered items so the seller can post false positive reviews online.

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Japan could be sixth eye – The Five Eyes intelligence alliance could be expanded to include Japan and broadened into an economic relationship pooling reserves such as critical minerals and medical supplies, according to centre-right MPs working internationally to decouple the west from China. Patrick Wintour writes that after the coronavirus crisis revealed the west’s key strategic dependencies on China, plans will be announced shortly under Five Eyes auspices for a major increase in production of rare and semi-rare metals from Australia, Canada and the US, who with New Zealand and the UK make up Five Eyes. China has come to account for more than 90% of global production of rare-earth elements that are key components in a products including mobile phones, laptops and TVs, as well as defence equipment and satellites. The Japanese defence minister, Tarō Kōno, has proposed his country joining Five Eyes.

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Answer in the tea leaves – The mystery of why fallen leaves make the train lines slippery may have been partly solved. Scientists say tannins – as found in wine, and your cup of tea – grab onto iron that has been dissolved from the rails by acids in the foliage, forming a layer of black material that reduces friction between steel surfaces. This substance, they say, is very similar to iron gall ink, a substance used for centuries for everything from sacred texts to drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. “Hopefully this will lead to some chemical treatments that can stop [the slippery material] from forming,” said Dr Michael Watson of the University of Sheffield, a co-author of the research.

Today in Focus podcast: Trump playing politics in Portland

The anti-racism protests in Portland appeared to be dwindling in size until Donald Trump sent in federal officers to confront them, reports the Guardian’s Chris McGreal.

Lunchtime read: Are these your text messages?

Drug deals, hook-ups, break-ups and secret code – Jeff Mermelstein’s snatched, surreptitious photographs of New Yorkers’ texts reveal that the city still has its wild side.

Sport

Stuart Broad plans to follow his “idol” Jimmy Anderson by ploughing on in Test cricket for some time yet, after he burst through the 500-wicket barrier as the driving force behind England’s 2-1 series victory against West Indies. The findings that led to Uefa deciding that Manchester City were guilty of a “serious breach” of financial fair play regulations and imposing a two-year Champions League ban have finally been revealed. The Battle of the Brits at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton came alive on Tuesday evening as Dan Evans outclassed Kyle Edmund 6-4, 6-4 to win a spicy duel. Anthony Hamilton will fear for his health when he steps out at the Crucible due to what he described as the “ridiculous” decision to allow a limited audience at the World Snooker Championship this year.

Scottie Pippen says he has talked with Michael Jordan since The Last Dance documentary aired in the spring and downplayed any rift between the retired Chicago Bulls stars. The 2016 Olympic medallist Amy Tinkler wants British Gymnastics to be more proactive in tackling the abuse culture in her sport after revealing her complaint over bullying is likely to take at least a year to be resolved. And the government has dashed hopes fans could be back inside stadiums for the start of the new Premier League season on 12 September with the sports minister, Nigel Huddleston, confirming officials are working towards 1 October.

Business

The Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and bosses of Amazon, Google and Apple will face the US Congress today in a historic investigation into their size and power. It comes after a more than year-long anti-trust investigation by a House subcommittee. Asian stock markets struggled overnight amid growing concerns about the state of the US economy. The FTSE is set to lose around 0.5% at the opening. The US dollar kept just above two-year lows, leaving the pound at $1.292 and €1.102.

The papers

A “second wave” breaks over the front pages this morning. The Mail announces the PM’s fear that it will hit “in two weeks”. The Times says “Second wave has started in Europe, warns PM” and the Metro has similar, with a pic of Boris Johnson, waving.

The FT uses a more pointed expression: “Europe fights coronavirus spike as lockdowns ease and tourism grows”. The Telegraph says “Heathrow boss calls for tests at airports” which could help people avoid quarantine.

The Guardian splashes with “Huge growth in free school meals urged to tackle food poverty crisis”. The Express’s lead is “Maddie police dig up allotment” – the same subject leads the Mirror and the Star except they refer to “Maddie cops” instead.

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